Sports of The Times; Basketball's Dizzying Problems

By IRA BERKOW

Published: May 30, 1995

TO be fair, if the N.B.A. is to rid its arenas of mind-altering distractions, such as the spinning pinwheel placards that have recently caused a controversy in the Pacer-Magic playoff series, then Dennis Rodman must be suspended immediately.

What, after all, must it be like to play against someone with neon hair? Or one whose 6-foot-8-inch frame is covered with tattoos and, in motion, becomes a kaleidoscope? Or, when going up for a rebound, to be tickled by the ring in his navel?

At this moment, however, Rodman is not the primary issue, though his genius for self-advertisement always makes that subject to change.

In Indianapolis, meanwhile, the officials of the National Basketball Association have confiscated those dizzying pinwheel contraptions that a few fans spun from behind the basket when an Orlando player was at the foul line.

When Anfernee Hardaway stepped away from the line as his eyes bonged at the pinwheels, the referees said that was too much. Other spectators had to agree.

But Larry Brown, the Pacers' coach, jumped up and down. "They play music when we have possession of the ball in Orlando," he reasoned. "What's the difference? Let's just play basketball."

Not that Brown was self-serving in this instance -- coaches, of course, are rarely self-serving -- but there must be certain limits to how much fans, or even the clubs, can distract the other team.

In baseball, for example, people in the stands have been thrown out of the park for shining mirrors that reflect the sun into a batter's eyes.

In football, people have been thrown out for throwing beer at opponents.

In hockey, those thrown out of other places are embraced in its arenas. Which is the exception that proves the rule.

But some feel that the pinwheels, for example, are not a distraction when shooting free throws. Magic center Shaquille O'Neal, for one, said that they could have naked women in the stands and it wouldn't distract him. Of course, the way he shoots free throws, he should welcome any distraction, clothed or otherwise.

And Reggie Miller of the Pacers, as quick as his coach to seize an advantage, complained that barring the spinners could turn basketball into tennis or golf. But you don't want to turn it into Fun House, either. Or a hypnotists' convention.

And while I'd also like a ban on the squiggly balloons and people with painted faces -- the latter solely on esthetic grounds -- there must be room for free speech, as such.

But the broader issue is just how much one can get away with in a basketball arena. Obviously, these fans have taken their cues from the marketing departments who have decided that the greater the noise, the brighter the strobe lights, the goofier the timeout sideshows and the technocratic intrusions when there is a hometown dunk or a rival's air ball, the more pleasure basketball fans will derive at the game. It is a moronic concept -- that hoops must be secondary to a circus -- but one that has spread like a skunk smell.

It is this theory, too, which has led to a dramatic change in the game on the floor, where someone running for a bus may take fewer steps than someone en route to a stuff shot. In their misguided attempt to even things out, however, referees call traveling on the perimeter when there is the barest drag of a pivot foot. It is a form of compensation, like a bald man growing a beard.

The idea is to encourage dunks because they are seen by the marketeers to be more spectacular than a sweet though subtle move. The fact is, one can play within the rules and still be wonderful. Hakeem Olajuwon is a case in point. He doesn't stretch the legal limits, makes sensational spin moves without taking steps, and is simply the best player and single best show in basketball today.

The league in the recent past has properly tempered hand-checking and taunting, which it found detrimental. But abuses continue.

Rodman, meanwhile, is probably plotting his next hair coloring and his next attack on a television lens, like the one he punched out in Sunday's game. Will anyone fine or sue him for destroying property, other than himself?

The behavior of fan and player is at issue here. And the atmosphere and pleasure of playing and watching a basketball game are at issue here.